Ishar's 20GH Planted tank

[ishar]

I still can't post any pics due to the POTM, but I had a lot of updates, and since I need to get ready for work I will do it in point form.

-many ghost shrimp have died- no idea why or how many are left. Haven't seen any in a while.
-I pulled out my rotala maranda last night as all that was left were the stems. I knew they were delicate when I bought them and hoped my water would be good for them but it wasn't :P.
-Algae! Holy crap! I have a bit of staghorn here and there, a lot of green fuzzy algae, a lot of BBA on my driftwood :'(. My glass is always covered in green hairy algae too, and my vals attract the fussy stuff.
-I trimmed and w/c last night and I found tonne of my java fern to have its leaves go brown and see-through... no idea what that mans, so if you do PLEASE let me know. I will try to research it myself this afternoon.
-my CO2 has been being a PITA- it wouldn't get sucked into the filter for days; I think the tube kept rotating on its own. I think I fixed it now though. It ran out as well, so I refreshed it and it is going strong now.
-my guppies are starting to repopulate again . I have a few females getting bigger and they are giving birth to about one offspring (as far as I can tell anyways... friggin jungle in there) per month. And the males are growing and colouring up VERY nicely IMO.
-My credit card is to come in today I think, and once it does? Pressurized CO2 time

[Avalon]

I think your algae woes lie around 3 issues: CO2, nutrients, & circulation. Staghorn algae is a nitrogen & CO2 problem. Fuzzy green algae is a definite nutrient problem. BBA is CO2. I'm thinking your nitrogen levels are low. I was figuring out the doseage for another tank using Seachem's Nitrogen and your tank should be dosed at around 15mL daily to hit a 3ppm daily increase. Most planted tanks use around 3ppm of nitrogen per day. YMMV. Anyway, this might explain your translucent leaves.

After getting CO2 right, you should make sure your have really good circulation in your tank. Dead spots will kill an otherwise great tank. If your filter isn't getting the job done, add a small powerhead. It will also be handy for CO2 diffusion. After correcting the CO2 and circulation, ensure that your nutrients aren't low. They don't have to be kept at certain levels--they just have to be available at all times. Running out = bad. Excess can be really bad if your CO2 gets low. Of course, if your CO2 gets low, it's almost the same as having excess nutrients regardless of their level since the plants aren't able to use as much as they would like, which I think it what's going on here with the algae. In the case of your plant leaves, I still think your nitrogen is low though...possibly P, but most likely N.

Just keep the mind that this is really easy: Proper NPK, CO2, Traces, & Iron mixed with the proper amount of light. If you're having trouble with NPK, CO2, Traces, or Iron, the lower the amount of light. Light dictates everything else. You'd be suprised at how little you need.

Sorry to hear about the macrandra ; it's a nice plant. You'll need a KH of 3 dKH or less, acidic water, good CO2, and an acidic substrate helps (but not required).

[ishar]

wow... lol so I have a lot to fix then .

I cannot find a place to get a C02 canister, let alone the time to go get it. So that still poses a problem. But it will be done soon enough I hope. And I do have a powerhead, and I think my circulation is pretty good- one thing going for me .

So you are thinking I need to up my nitrogen? I used this website to get my initial amounts to go from: FertFriend. If I assume 17.... oh crap! I used 17 LITRES of water- NOT gallons... oh man... ok then. If I use 17 gallons, or 65 litres, it says I need roughly 3 mL. You think 15 is what I need? I will up it to 3mL per day and go from there maybe...

This might help: I am dosing every day, .5-1 mL N, .25-.5 P, 1 K, .25 Fe, .5-1 Flourish. So I need to up it it seems... lol I never realized how little I was dosing compared to my light- especially my P... And this is likely the cause of my algae eh? I will up the dosage then!!

So what sort of increase, in ppm, for each nutrient should I be trying to get, as a sort of rule of thumb to start me off and adjust?

[ishar]

Well after discussing with Avalon about my tank, I upped my fert routine to 3mL N, 3.5mL P, 1mL K, and 1 mL Fe every day, with 5mL every other day of Flourish. I also set up a native emergent tank today, so I took off the dual T5 strip and put it on the native tank- I didn't need all that light anyways

[ishar]

Well I am about to kick this tank right up to 11.

I bought myself a regulator with a solenoid and bubble counter, as well as a glass diffuser to be adapted to a paintball CO2 tank (I will give a detailed description of how it is done in the DIY section once it is done). I am also going to add about 2-3" of topsoil underneath the flourite- that means a chance to rescape it. From what you can see from the last picture, does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, I hope to find a Canadian supplier of dry ferts, and I will then be using them for ferts. If anyone has any info regarding this I would be ecstatic to have it passed on to me.

[ishar]

Well I want to formalize this big switch here. I think you could officially say I am making the leap from "low-tech" to "high-tech".

Substrate
I am in the process of mineralizing a soil substrate (see below) to go underneath my flourite. I will add roughly a 1-1.5" layer of soil, then put the flourite on top. This means doing another huge PITA gravel swap. Man.. how I hated doing it last time with only have of the plants and wood :'(. But I think this will help my tank a lot- another source of nutrients for the roots and a deeper bed for the roots to spread out- especially for the jungle vals.

Fertilization
I picked up some dry ferts today- for 20 CAD I received 1lb each of the macros (KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4) plus 150g of chelated trace mix. I am going to use up my Seachem products and then switch over, using the old Seachem bottle for mixing/storage I think. As per the previous discussion between Avalon and I, I upped my dosage to 3mL N, 3.5mL P, 1mL K, 1mL Fe, and 5 Flourish every other day. I have seen a noticeable reduction in new algae growth, so now tomorrow I am going to do a big trim and remove any of the dead leaves due to the N (or P) shortage and any leaves/plants too infested with algae.

Light
I didn't mention it before, but when I started my 10G native emergent tank I took the dual T5 strip off of my 20G for that tank. I was at 4.5 WPG, and I was not ready for that with ferts or CO2. This is likely also helping to reduce the algae growth.

CO2
I have a Milwaukee regulator with solenoid and bubble counter coming along with a glass diffuser. I have, sitting right in front of me, my DIY CO2 adapter to allow me to use paintball cylinders for my aquarium. I know this will not last me as long as a 5lb cylinder, but I have been unable to turn one up, but I know where I can buy and fill paintball cylinders, and they are all over the place. The shear convenience of that is worth the money that I will lose in the long term. I will be posting a DIY article for the adapter with credit to the man who helped me do it all (see link below). I will also be doign a little CO2 FAQ sort of deal once I get the DIY thing done.

So there it is. Please take a look at the links below for further information.
>How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
>Paintball CO2 @ Logan's Daddy's 34 gallon
>Found Dry Ferts
>Milwaukee MA957 CO2 Regulator
>CO2 Diffuser 3000
>Green Leaf Aquariums Review

[ishar]

Well I have some updates! I got my regulator and diffuser in the mail today and they arrived in GREAT shape! . I plan on adapting it to a paintball cylinder, but I can't get the regular cylinder piece off (the piece on the reg that attaches to the normal cylinders). I will by the end of tonight though, hopefully.

I have my DIY hooked up to the diffuser right now, and the bubbles all rise up into my powerhead which circulates them around the aquarium. I think it will be a good setup .

As for the soil... I am going to continue the wet/dry cycling to mineralize it, but I might not add it to my aquarium until September, when I go back to school. I don't really want to add more weight to it to move around again :/.

I added two more ottos yesterday- man what an idiot I was too. I bought them but then had an unscheduled visit with a friend. To make sure they had air I put them and the plants I bought into a bowl- same water but out of their bags. But they didn't have quite enough water since the plants took up all the swimming room- I mean all of it. So I just added more water. It wasn't for another 3-4 hours that I realized- I ADDED CHLORINATED WATER! So I finally got home, and since the temperature of their water and of my tank were very close (my fingers could tell no difference) I just put them in to the tank. I was worried about the shock they would go through, but I was more worried about the chlorine they were sitting in. They are still here! Thank God. I got a big one and a little one and they are both looking healthy, an with full stomachs (as if I didn't have algae or something ).

The plants I added were added because they caught my eye for one reason or another. Heteranthera zosterifolia aka "Stargrass", caught my eye because of the dense growth and the bright green of the leaves. Ludwigia arcuata aka "Needle Leaf Ludwigia" was added because it is red, and I can't seem to have rotala macranda survive in my tank so I wanted to try a different red species. But this plant was almost purple- it is pretty cool . I also added Ludwigia repens aka "Red Ludwigia" because I love the shape and colour of the leaves! I don't know why but I find it to be an amazingly beautiful plant!

Unfortunately it was very late last night when I got home and I had to be up real early, so I didn't bother washing the plants. I guarantee I added a bunch of snails to my tank. I don't mind right now- I feel like the algae all over my tank would be easier for them to eat then the plants themselves. But I will still be killing each and every one I see.

Ever since I upped my fert dosage, my plants have been becoming more vibrant colours- my bacopa has a red tinge to it and the rotala is growing much more densely and with longer leaves. My hairgrass is also starting to grow finally! It is green again and growing kind of tall and good. 'Bout time too! . However, it was too late for my java ferns. I lost almost all of it. The rhizomes and roots are still there and still looking healthy. But I lost almost every leaf from them due to a N or P shortage- could have easily been either, but more likely N. Either way, they are starting to send up new leaves all over the place again, so It shouldn't bee too long with this fert routine and pressurized CO2 that they will be good and full again.

My guppies are having babies again. I have a bunch of babies again... I need to get rid of these bloody females again :/.

Anyways, that is roughly everything. Once June is over I will post pics- I promise!!

[ishar]

OH- And a note on algae. According to "James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide", I have the following algae types:
} Green dust algae- I did have this until I upped my fert doses. It would totally cover the glass on all sides and make it hard to see through. Now it is a slight covering of the glass and grows back very slowly- a great improvement
} Green Spot Algae- I get this on the glass here and there. Nothing serious at all, but it is very hard to remove using my kitchen scrubber
} Hair, Thread, Fuzz, etc - whatever you want to call it, I have it- it kind of looks like cobwebs hanging between my rotala indica stems and from stems to the filter.
} Oedogonium- lots and lots of it too. It is all over my vals and onion plant mostly, btu there is some on other surfaces too.
} Staghorn- just a few strands here and there on the odd val leaf or crinum leaf. I have also sen it on my java fern leaves when I had some .

I also have this reddish fuzzy stuff growing on my driftwood but I sort of don't count that since the wood is the only place it shows up and it likely has to do with the fact that the driftwood is perpetually decomposing. Once my CO2 is set up I will wait and see if the algae goes away. If the wood-algae stays then I will just take out the wood and scrub it.

[Jason_Rookey]

wow i really like your plants wish mine would of turned out this nice what kind of light you have what watt

[ishar]

I wish we had hired punctuation police here at MFT :/

I have a coralife 6700K power compact light at 65 watts over my 20 gallons. It seems to be a pretty good light to me